1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a composition and process for cooked food products to impart the sensorial attributes of fried food products, and more particularly to a composition in the form of a batter coating, either powdered or wet, which is applied to a food product, and when cooked, has the taste, texture and appearance of a fried food product. The batter coating includes at least an enzyme-modified starch or flour or other starch-containing material having oil absorbing capabilities. The enzyme-modified starch is plated with a liquid cooking oil in order to bring the liquid cooking oil into the process, and the batter coating retains the incorporated liquid cooking oil during processing to impart a fat fried texture, appearance and taste to the cooked food product.
2. Description of the Related Art
Recently the subject of obesity has become an increasingly problematic topic. In the United States alone, the percentage of overweight adults (age 20-74) has increased from 15.0% to 32.9% in the last twenty-three years. (CDC 2007). This increase however is not limited to adults alone. Childhood obesity has climbed significantly; 17.4% of all children ages 12-19 and 18.8% of children within 6-11 years are obese. Even at ages 2-5 years, 13.9% of children are classified as obese. (CDC 2007). Fast food has been continuously targeted for causing obesity. However, despite this claim, the numbers entering fast food establishments have sustained due to the convenience factor. Nevertheless, consumers have begun to demand more “healthy menu options.” This demand has shown to be desirable; salads, fruit, and low-fat options are now offered on all national chain fast food menus.
Fried food products, particularly meats, poultry, pork, fish, vegetables, fruits, cheeses and the like, are usually prepared by coating them in a batter and/or a dry mix, such as breading, and subsequently fat-frying the coated food product. Bone-in and boneless fried chicken are especially popular and are typically prepared by batter-coating the chicken and deep fat-frying the coated chicken. According to McDonald's® menu, a 6-piece chicken McNugget® has 250 calories with 130 calories from fat. The fat-frying process is the primary contributor of the chicken nuggets' high fat content, and thus, the nutritional value of chicken nuggets can be improved by eliminating the fat-frying process. However, fat-frying imparts several critical food product functionalities, such as setting the batter coating to the food product, developing texture and color, and providing mouth-feel and flavor. These are all desirable characteristics that consumers enjoy regarding fried food products, which are often lost when the food products are baked. The food industry has yet to duplicate all of the unique characteristics of fried food products with a baking process.
While existing processes improve the attributes of baked food products to resemble those of fried food products by incorporating shortening, fluid shortening, porous bread crumbs with oil sprayed on the surface, and the combination of farinaceous material, shortening and starch derivatives, there remain opportunities to further improve upon the characteristics of coated and baked food products so as to render one or more of these characteristics more similar to the characteristics of fried food products.
It is therefore desirable to provide an improved composition and process for cooked food products to impart the sensorial attributes of fried food products.
It is further desirable to provide a composition in the form of a batter coating having at least an enzyme-modified starch or flour or starch-containing material plated with a liquid cooking oil that is applied to a food product and a process where the coated food products, when cooked, have the taste, texture and appearance of fried food products.
It is still further desirable to provide a composition and process that will benefit all fried, coated food products by significantly reducing their fat content while maintaining sensorial attributes.
It is yet further desirable to provide a composition and process for cooked food products to impart the sensorial attributes of fried food products that can be incorporated into any food product without any modification to the existing processes in the food industry.
It is yet further desirable to provide a composition and process for cooked food products to impart the sensorial attributes of fried food products that utilizes a powdered or wet batter coating with starch derivatives with liquid cooking oil incorporated therein to better immolate the texture and mouth-feel of fried food products for baked food products.
Because of the health concerns related to the usage of trans fat, such as from shortening and/or saturated fat, it is yet further desirable to provide a composition and process for cooked food products to impart the sensorial attributes of fried food products that incorporate liquid cooking oil rather than a trans fat to impart a fat fried texture, appearance, and taste to baked food products.
It is still further desirable to provide a composition and process for cooked food products to impart the sensorial attributes of fried food products that will benefit the food industry by utilizing ingredients in a new and functional way, and thus providing the food industry better tasting, healthier cooked food products.
Other advantages and features will be apparent from the following description and from the claims.